I am 18 and am a college student. A month ago during winter break I was sleeping fine and about 9-11 hours a day. Now that I have returned-- it has been about 5-7 off and on. I first was stressing about sFI my second night back and only got about 5 hours...I pushed it to 7...then it went down to 6.5 and 5. Two nights ago I took a benadryl, woke up in the middle of night, went back to bed and got 6.5 hours. I took a benadryl at 8:30pm last night but couldn't fall asleep until 11ish. I woke up at like 4! I never had this much trouble sleeping which scares me like crap! I am all in a panic if I have this horrible disease. Anyone got advice? I am seeing a doctor on Friday. I pray to God I do not have this.

I had a hug fear of this a few months ago because I could not sleep more than a few hours at a time. I know it may not help you to say it, but you have to try not to focus on it, because that makes your mind race and less likely to sleep. Have you tried sleeping remedies online? One of the ones that worked for me was moving to another room to sleep (I slept on the sofa for a few nights). I would say distract yourself! And also, if you cannot sleep, do not stay in bed and toss and turn. Get up and go do something for some time.

I am just frustrated because I can feel the effects of sleep deprivation, and I do not want it to hinder my performance in school since I am an electrical engineering student on full scholarship. I used to fall asleep so well and heavily because my roommate complained about my snoring. Nobody in my family has ever had Fatal Familial Insomnia and I am of Latin American descent...but this is starting to scare me. I have extreme anxiety all day just thinking about this. I wish I had never watched that documentary on that lady who died from sFI. I definitely, however, enter the REM phase of sleep, because I have vivid dreams, but I keep waking up in the middle of the night. I used to calm myself down and eventually fall asleep... but that did not work last night because I was trying to fall asleep from 4am to 830am. I called my grandparents to inform them about my fears. My grandfather recommended this OTC sleeping aid. Is there any definitive test for the sporadic form, or just practical advice from current insomniacs? I will admit I pulled of many all-nighters last semester or just nights with like 3-4 hours of sleep. I am doing my best to keep calm right now.

Unfortunately, I do not believe there is a test for SFI, because it a spongiform encephalopathy: you can't have a test dine for it without having your brain removed and examined or something. I could be wrong about that. But, do not worry, I am a college student as well, and also Latin American :) So when I was going through my panic, I slept maybe 4 hours a night and would spend the rest of it trying to figure out what was going on...like I said, the best thing you can do is really try not to stay in bed if you are not sleepy, and also try to distract yourself. Do not thnk about the documentary you watched. sFI is so rare, so very very very very very rare that you have a higher chance of winning the lottery and getting hit by lightning than to have it. I have some insomniac friends who take melotonin pills to help sleep, and I would also say try to stay off the internet as much as you can....or go get yourself so tired that you cannot help but fall asleep....but the biggest thing of all to remeber is that anxiety and stress only make things worse, and you cannot let yourself fall into these loops of thought.

And to add to my previous comment, I understand I have to fight the thought loops. My nerves are just shot because this bout of insomnia is popping out of nowhere and I feel foggy in the head. I was about to tell my family on the phone the other day that I might as well end up committing *****... but thanks for the advice. How did you overcome your bout of insomnia?

Well, my insomnia comes and goes....what I found that helped me the most was not eating/drinkin before I knew I was going to go to bed, turning off the computer (I read that the light is very bad for you!), and actually, taking just one of those tylenol extra strength nighttime pills....I fell asleep one night on the sofa and it got better after that....I think having one good night sleep also really helped me relax, since I realized that if I could fall asleep, I would be okay. Good luck to you :)